Hannah Sugrue, originally from Coventry and a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Warwick, is being celebrated as the 50,000th competitor of the world’s largest student motorsport event, Formula Student.

Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, is in its 18th year and challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single seat racing car in one year. The event will take place in Silverstone on 8-12 July. The cars are judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance in a series of time-trial races, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills.

Hannah, 24, attended Bablake School in Coventry and is hoping to pursue a career in Project Management.

Hannah said:

“Being part of the University of Warwick Racing Team has been a fantastic experience and has helped me develop skills that are impossible to learn in a classroom.

“It has given me the chance to get some hands-on experience of the challenges involved in developing an engineering project from start to finish – from sourcing funding, developing the design to actually building the car. These skills will be invaluable as I start my career in Project Management.

“I’m looking forward to taking the University of Warwick Racing car to Silverstone in July and pitting it against all the other cars at the competition.”

This year will see 135 teams take part, from 28 different countries. There are 49 teams from UK Universities taking part and teams from as far afield as Australia, India and Ukraine.

Formula Student has helped thousands of students develop skills that are vital for a career in engineering and has also become a stepping stone for a number of very successful Formula 1 engineers. There are Formula Student alumni in every F1 team and hundreds more have progressed to the world’s largest automotive firms.

Formula Student’s Partners this year are Bosch, GKN, Jaguar Land Rover, Mathworks and Mercedes-Benz HPP.